Feeling a bit self-indulgent, she picked up her last piece of bacon with her fingers, munching away happily on its salty goodness until it was, sadly, all gone, licking her fingers to make sure that she got every last bit of flavor.
It wasn’t until she was done that she realized that probably hadn’t been the best of manners, particularly when eating with someone she’d met less than twenty-four hours ago. She looked up to see Henry watching her intently, though he looked away the moment she looked up.
Well, let him look. Maybe she needed to be a little more forward with her intentions. She definitely liked him, and at this point she was sure that he liked her, too. They couldn’t keep just dancing around each other like this!
“I guess I’d better start thinking about what I’m going to do today,” she said, taking a sip of her Earl Grey. “I originally had a whole raft of activities planned out, but given that not a single thing has gone to plan, I’m thinking that maybe I should just throw my schedule out the window and play it by ear.”
Henry’s brows creased in concern. “Are you sure about that? I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss. I can deal with any issues if that creep decides to show his face.”
Luna waved her hand dismissively. “No, no, it’s fine. The heart of this article was always going to be about the town and its people, so maybe I need to switch my focus a little. And the festival goes for a week, so there’s time to do everything. Anyway, I’ve got a wrong I want to right.” She set her jawin determination. “Given that I destroyed your cake yesterday and smeared it all over you, I’m going to buy you some new cake. Nope –” She held up a hand to forestall his protests. “No arguments. I’m buying you this cake, and you’re going to eat it and you’re going to enjoy it.”
Henry still looked like he was going to protest, but then he shut his mouth.
Luna nodded. “A wise decision.”
Besides the fact that she really did want to buy Henry some cake, she’d also heard a lot of chatter about just how good the cakes were at Sylvie’s Sweets and Bakery. It made sense to go where the locals went as well, and see if she could find some good stories about the town from those who knew the place best. She thought that Eula might be someone else who could add some local color!
In any case, she thought as she pulled back the curtains and peered out the window, it looked like it was going to be a bit of a gray and drizzly day. Not prime festival weather. Anyway, given her run of bad luck, probably any activity she tried to take part in would just result in her risking life and limb, like getting eaten by wolves while going on a treasure hunt, or bleeding out from a papercut while taking the origami class.
No, she had a plan: 1) Make Henry eat delicious cake. 2) Work out who the hell was sending her these text messages, and put a stop to it. 3) Ask Henry out, if he didn’t do it first. 4) Get back to the festival so she could do her job.
She hurried through her morning routine, barely staying in the shower long enough to get clean, acutely aware of Henry right there in the next room. She was excited for the day to come, certain that any weird behavior from her would-be stalker could be dealt with now that she had Henry by her side.
Henry was still in the room when she got back, having not disappeared through any walls this time, and it was with a thrillin her stomach that she headed out to her car with him by her side and Fillmore in her arms.
The ride down the mountain was a slow and careful affair – while the misty rain and fog were beautifully atmospheric, they didn’t make for ideal driving conditions on the narrow, winding mountain roads, and the drive down into town took place mostly in comfortable silence.
Despite the weather the town was still bustling, and the only parking space Luna was able to find was a five-minute walk away from the bakery.
She also hadn’t thought to grab a spare umbrella from the B&B, and so the two of them were huddled together under her tiny fold-down umbrella with the broken spoke as they scuttled down the sidewalk, Fillmore tucked safely inside her jacket. The cold didn’t seem to be bothering Henry at all – maybe it was a shifter thing? Or just ahellhoundthing – and she huddled close to him, feeling brave, letting the excuse of the rain and the cold push her closer to him than maybe would usually be considered entirely proper.
She almost jumped out of her skin as, suddenly, a bare patch of skin between her sleeve and her glove brushed against Henry’s hand, and a shock of electricity ran through her. She’d somehow almost forgotten about how this had happened yesterday, what with all the weirdness that had gone on since, and she’d just assumed it was some sort of static shock. But it definitely wasn’t static, that much she was sure of – it had felt like… like… aconnection.
Great, now I’m imagining some kind of magical psychic link between us,she scolded herself as Henry held open the door of the bakery.Get a grip, Luna! Is this what happens just before you go insane from unfulfilled lust?!
Glancing up at Henry to see if he’d noticed her quietly going insane, she couldn’t help but notice he seemed to be… kind ofwary? In any case, he was looking around a lot, his eyes scanning the crowd, as if he was expecting something – or someone – to jump out of it.
“Everything okay?” she asked cautiously – he’d told her he’d look out for her, so perhaps it was just that he was trying to check if he could see anyone hunched over their phone typing out a text in an especially suspicious way.
“Uh, no, it’s nothing,” Henry said, before he followed her inside the bakery, letting the door close behind him. “Or… well, perhaps it’s something we can discuss later. It’s kind of hard to explain.”
“Harder than that you’re a guy who turns into a massive shaggy hellhound?” Luna wondered aloud – though nottooloudly – as they made their way up to the counter together.
Henry laughed softly, but he still sounded a little uneasy. “Well, perhaps not.”
“Welcome to Sylvie’s Sweets and Bakery!” chirped a voice, and Luna looked up to see a petite, dark-haired woman greeting them from behind the counter. “What can I – oh, you’re back again already! Couldn’t stay away, huh? Oh, and you brought a friend.” She waved at Fillmore where he peeped out balefully from Luna’s jacket. “Twofriends!”
Luna blinked in confusion for a moment, before putting two and two together. The woman – the eponymous Sylvie, going by her name tag – must have served Henry his ill-fated cakes yesterday.
Henry shifted awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. I really wanted to come back and get some more.”
“Which one was your favorite?” Sylvie asked. “I can get you more of the same, or you can try something new. Our daily special today is a white chocolate, coconut and mango cheesecake.”
Luna could see that the dilemma of lying about what happened was just about causing Henry physical pain – he obviously didn’t want to say that her lovingly crafted cakes had ended up a smeared mess on his shirt, but he didn’t want to say anything about something that he hadn’t actually eaten, either. His clear need to be honest while trying to spare her feelings was kind of endearing.
Still, sometimes you just needed to cut through the crap, and Luna was pretty sure that Sylvie could handle knowing the sad fate her cakes had met.
“Hi!” she said brightly. “My overly polite friend here didn’t actually get to eat any of his cakes in the end, because like an idiot I knocked them all on the ground. I’m here to make amends.”
